"I used to describe him as a renaissance man," said Stratford High basketball coach Paul Dudzinksi, who watched Sherrod morph from overweight video gamer to chiseled Division I prospect. "I used to call him The Ambassador. He really was an ambassador for Stratford High. He was in school plays, a cappella groups, involved with the church. I think he's at the perfect college for his interests."

Standing 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-11 wingspan and hands large enough to palm a watermelon, Brandon Sherrod wasn't the best player at Saturday's Connecticut 6 (he had five points and four rebounds in Yale's win over Central Connecticut). But if there's a more interesting basketball player in the state, I'd love to meet him.

Sherrod plays the drums, piano and saxophone. He told the Connecticut Post in 2011 that he has written and recorded several songs. He didn't play basketball until ninth grade, when he weighed 315 pounds. He checked in at 235 as a senior at Stratford, leading his Red Devils to a 27-0 record and a state title while averaging 15.4 points, 14.3 rebounds and 6.3 blocks. He's now 228 pounds, veins popping in his arms and shoulders.

"The transformation of his body was truly amazing," Dudzinski said. "He's become a strong, strong Karl Malone-type."

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Yet he's not The Mailman. To those in the Bridgeport basketball circle, he's The Scholar. To his prep coach at Choate Rosemary Hall, he was The Senator. To his Yale teammates, he's The Mayor.

Yes, Brandon Sherrod wants to travel the world and play basketball professionally. But he also wants to become the mayor of Bridgeport. No joke.

"I think education is a really big issue in Bridgeport," said Sherrod, a political science major. "The board of ed is doing a terrible job right now."

Before you hear his ideas, you must first understand his background. Sherrod lives in Bridgeport, but always attended the Stratford school system through a program called Open Choice, which allows urban students to enroll in nearby suburban schools. He recognizes that not every kid, particularly in his city, is afforded such an opportunity. He believes that "if people were put in better positions to really focus on education," their lives might turn out differently.

"It's about preparation," Sherrod said, "and having teachers in place that are passionate, that care about the students, that aren't getting sick of the students. Having administration and people in place that are going to promote change, I think that's huge. We have a bunch of charter schools in Bridgeport and that takes away from the resources of public schools."

"And the gap in wealth between the Black Rock area and the East End," he added. "There's such a huge divide. That's a really big deal."

The Scholar is just getting started.

"As far as candidates go, (having) candidates that are honest and candid and do what they say they're going to do," Sherrod said. "We've had a pretty bad history of mayors -- (Joseph) Ganim, (John) Fabrizi with his problems, now you have Mayor (Bill) Finch. He's doing OK. I still think a lot of change could come to Bridgeport. And Bridgeport has a lot of potential. We're right on the water, we have access to New York, there are a lot of highways, a lot of land, and a lot of jobs can be created through that. The downtown area needs to be revamped."

"It's just, yeah," he said, smiling. "I'm passionate about it."

As his friend Dominique Langston, a former Quinnipiac and Southern Connecticut shooting guard, put it, Sherrod is passionate about making a difference.

"He makes sure that everyone is happy," Langston said. "He takes care of them before himself. That's the best way I can describe it."

Like many in the city, Langston, a Kolbe Cathedral grad, believes improvements are needed in a public school system that has Connecticut's worst graduation rates. But like Langston, Sherrod didn't attend Bassick or Harding or Central, making him an outsider in the community he wants to change.

"I didn't experience it personally, but I have seen the products of it," Sherrod said.

His two younger sisters were in the Bridgeport school system before enrolling at Stratford High through the Open Choice program. Many of his basketball friends were public school students. Few are playing college basketball today.

Sherrod, however, starts his junior season off with UConn on Monday and Rutgers on Thursday. He'll match up with the Huskies' Amida Brimah, whom he saw in the Hartford Pro-Am this summer (Sherrod led the league in scoring at over 32 points per game). He'll also go toe-to-toe with Rutgers big man Kadeem Jack, who scored 30 points Friday against Florida A&M.

Coincidentally, it was an AAU game against Jack that gave Sherrod confidence that he could hang.

"I had a great game; I shut him down," Sherrod recalled. "(West Virginia) coach (Bob) Huggins was watching him, and he left because I guess he was upset, and that was pretty cool. That was pretty dope."

Pretty dope, indeed.

The Yale education has taught him plenty. More than anything, he's learned to think critically.

"Every argument you have can be refuted," he said. "Here, people challenge you. There's a lot of skepticism about what you may be claiming. With that, it's helped me to grow as a human being."

Sherrod isn't claiming he'd work miracles and single-handedly reverse Bridgeport's fortune. He's claiming he'd like to one day give it a try. For now, he's consumed with basketball while serving the community through various church events. For now, he's The Scholar and The Budding Force Inside, finally healthy after a freshman season cut short by wrist surgery and a sophomore campaign slowed by an abdomen injury.

Sherrod will be challenged this week by the massive frontcourts of UConn and Rutgers. He'll eventually be challenged, on a much greater level, by the balancing act of his future. If The Scholar becomes The Pro, when does The Pro try to become The Mayor?

"I'll have to figure that out," Sherrod said.

He has time, after all. He's only 21. He's bound to add a few more nicknames as the years pass.